Toy having shaft-mounted rotatable and pivotable appendage



' Nov. 11, 1969 J. L. BONANNO' 3,477,171

TOY HAVING SHAFT-MOUNTED'ROTATABLE AND PIVOTABLE APPENDAGE Filed Nov.15. 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet '1 FIG.

2+ Z5 24 /2 H 25 /7 3 27 f all? 4-1; L I k 3 a 36 37 I i: /5 2 I 2a 2 /6'3 l 22 5-H I x INVENTOR: 5 J'OJZPH 4. zolwmw ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent 3,477,171 TOY HAVING SHAFT-MOUNTED ROTATABLE AND PKVOTABLEAPPENDAGE Joseph L. Bonanno, South Orange, N.J., assignor to TopperCorporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 15, 1966, Ser. No.594,419 Int. Cl. A63h 3/20; F16c 11/08 US. Cl. 46-161 7 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a toy in which there is atleast one appendage movable with respect to a body, and has particularreference to an improved swival mounting for the appendage.

The invention will be described and illustrated in connection with ahuman-like doll provided with movable arms, but many phases of theinvention are applicable to a wide variety of animated toys, such as toyanimals.

It is a general object of the invention to provide a means for mountingan appendage with respect to a toy body so that the appendage may berotated and also pivoted about an axis perpendicular to its axis ofrotation.

It is a more specific object of the invention to provide a mountingmeans for connecting an appendage to a rotatable shaft, within the toybody, in such a way that the appendage rotates with the shaft and ispivotable with respect to the shaft about an axis perpendicular to theaxis of rotation of the shaft.

It is another object of the invention to provide a mounting means whichwhen employed to secure the arms of a doll to a shaft within the dollsbody, causes the arms to rotate with the shaft, so that the hands movelengthwise along the body, and permits the arms to be moved toward andaway from each other.

It is an additional object of the invention to provide a mounting meansincluding only a single element between the appendage and the shaftwithin the toy body, the element being connected to both the appendageand shaft without the use of independent fasteners.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a mounting meanswhich is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and assemble with theother parts of the toy, and which nevertheless is durable enough toinsure a long period of use.

To achieve these and other objects, the invention in one of itsembodiments includes a doll body having arm holes in its shoulderregion, and one end of an arm loosely accommodated within each hole. Ashaft within the body is aligned with and terminates near, the armholes. The shaft is rotatable about its longitudinal axis. Each arm issecured to an end of the shaft by means of a cylindrical sleevenon-rotatably accommodated within the hollow end of the arm. The sleevehas an internal slot of rectangular cross-section. In a longitudinaldirection, the slot tapers from both ends toward a narrow neck sized tofrictionally grip the shaft. Due to this fractional grip, the sleeve andhence the arm is caused to rotate with the shaft. However, due to thedivergence of the slot walls out- ICC wardly from the neck, the sleeveand hence the arm are permitted to pivot, on the neck acting as afulcrum, aaout an axis perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the saft.

At the region in which each arm passes through the arm hole in the body,the arm is provided with an annular groove, but on each side of thegroove, the diameter of the arm is larger than the diameter of the armhole to limit the lateral movement of the arm with respect to the body.The groove is relatively narrow at the two diametrically opposed pointsthrough which the pivot axis of the arm pass, but the groove widens fromthese points to permit pivotal movement of the arm.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be apparentfrom the following description in which reference is made to theaccompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a doll according to the invention,showing the possible movements of the arms with respect to the dollsbody;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken through the shoulders ofthe body of the doll showing the swivel joints in one position of thearms;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the swivel joints in a secondposition of the arms;

FIG. 4 is a section taken along line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a section taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6, is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the swivel joints when thearms have been pivoted away from each other to the greatest extentpossible; and

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the elements comprising thepivotal joints of the arms.

Referring to FIG. 1, the toy chosen to illustrate the invention is adoll having a hollow body 11 and a pair of legs 14 and 15 attached tothe lower portion of the body. A head 10' is shown connected to the topof the body in any well known manner. A pair of arms 12 and 13 areconnected to the body 11 at the shoulder region of the latter, in amanner to be more fully discussed below. The connection is such as toenable the arms to move along a path parallel to the longitudinal axisof the body 11 as illustrated by arrows A, and along a lateral path asillustrated by arrows B.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 6, the body 11 is provided with arm holes 16which accommodate the upper ends of arms 12 and 13. Mounted within thebody is a U- shaped bracket 17. A shaft 18, preferably having a squarecross-sectional shape, passes through holes in the arms 21 of thebracket (see FIG. 7) and is thereby supported for rotation about itslongitudinal axis. If desired, a suitable mechanism (not shown) may behoused within the body 11 for rotating the shaft 18, the mechanism beingactuable whenever the arms are to be moved in the direction A from oneextreme position to the other.

Each arm is provided, near its upper end, with a reduced diameter regionor groove 22, and it is within this region that each arm is looselyfitted within its respective hole 16 in the body 11. The arms are thuspermitted to freely rotate, in the direction A, with respect to thebody. The diameter of each arm on both sides of the groove 22 is greaterthan the diameter of the holes 16 to prevent removal of the arm from thebody. For the purpose of assembling the arms 12 and 13- with the body11, the body is formed of separable front and back portions, thedividing line between the portions running through the arm holes 16.

To permit lateral pivotal movement of the arms 12 and 13, in thedirection B, the side walls 23 and 24 of the groove 22 diverge from twodiametrically opposed points of minimum spacing, best seen in FIG. 2, totwo diametrically opposed points of maximum spacing, best seen in FIGS.3 and 6. The two points of minimum spacing lie along the pivot axis ofthe arm, which will be defined below. The shape of the grooves describedabove permits the arms 12 and 13 to be adjusted between a hands apartposition, and a hands together position. In the hands apart position,the portion of the side wall 24 of each arm on the side of the pivotaxis opposite to the dolls hand contacts the outer surface of the body11 and the portion of the side wall 23 on the same side of the pivotaxis as the hand contacts the inner surface of the body, as shown inFIG. 6. FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the grooves 22 and the armholes 16 when the hands are in an intermediate position between theextreme hands apart and hands together positions. In the hands togetherposition, which is not illustrated, the portion of the side wall 24 onthe same side of the pivot as the hand contacts the outer surface of thebody 11, and the portion of the side wall 23 on the side of the pivotaxis opposite to the hand contacts the inner surface of the body.

In the above discussion, it has been assumed that the arms 12 and 13 aremoved together to corresponding positions. It should be pointed out,however, that each arm is movable independently in the direction B.

The connection between each arm and the shaft 18 is effected by a singleelement illustrated in FIGS. 2-7. The element is a generally cylindricalsleeve 27 having an outwardly projecting flange 28 at one end. Thesleeve 27 is preferably formed of a slightly resilient material,

such as a suitable plastic, and a sleeve is adapted to be receivedwithin the hollow upper end of each arm 12 and 13. The flange 28 limitsthe movement of the sleeve into the hollow chamber in the arm byabutting the inner face 29 of the arm. Projecting into the hollowchamber in each arm 12 and 13 are two diametrically opposed ridges 30formed integrally with the arm. The ridges are accommodated withincorrespondingly located longitudinal slots 31 formed in the outersurface of the sleeves 27. Cooperation between the ridges 30 and theslots 31 produces a non-rotatable relationship between each arm 12 and13 and its respective sleeve 27. Nevertheless, the arm and sleeve arereadily assembled simply by sliding the sleeve 27 endwise into thehollow chamber in the arm. To aid this sliding movement, the sleeve 27is slightly tapered from its flanged end toward its other end as shownin FIG. 2.

Extending longitudinally through the center of each sleeve 27 is aspecially shaped bore 34 which preferably has a rectangularcross-sectional shape. Two opposite walls 35 (FIG. 2) of the bore areparallel and spaced apart a distance equal to the correspondingdimension of the shaft 18. The other pair of opposed walls 36 of bore 34include a neck 37 (FIGS. 3 and 4) of minimum spacing equal to orslightly less than the corresponding dimension of the shaft 18. The neckregion 37 tightly grips the shaft 18 and defines the fulcrum or pivotaxis between the shaft 18 and sleeve 27. From the neck 37, the walls 36diverge outwardly in both directions thus providing the room required topermit pivotal movement between the shaft and sleeve. The lightfrictional contact between the walls 35 and the shaft 18 prevents freeswinging of the arms, but permits the arms to be pivoted in thedirection B by the application of a positive force to them.

Assembly of the sleeve 27 and shaft 18 is extremely simple, involvingonly the step of pushing the shaft 18 into the bore 34. This movement islimited by the abutment of a pair of arcuate surfaces 38 against acollar 39 fixed to the shaft 18.

It will be appreciated that the present invention provides a member 27capable of transmitting the rotary motion of shaft 18 to each arm 12 and13. This is accomplished by the cooperation of the shaft with walls 35and neck 37, and the cooperation of ridges 30 with slots 31. At the sametime; the member 27 permits pivotal movement of each arm with respect tothe shaft, via neck 37 and walls 36. Furthermore, the member 27 may beassembled with the shaft and each arm by simply sliding the componentstogether and without the use of independent fasteners.

The inventon has been shown and described in preferred form only, and byway of example, any many variations may be made in the invention whichwill still be comprised within its spirit. It is understood, therefore,that the invention is not limited to any specific form or embodiment.

What is claimed is:

1. In a toy:

a hollow body provided with an opening, said body being defined by awall,

a shaft with said body terminating at one end near said opening,

means for mounting said shaft within said body, said shaft beingrotatable about its longitudinal axis with respect to said body,

an appendage, and

means securing said appendage to said body with one end thereof looselyaccommodated within said opensaid appendage-securing means includingmeans for connecting said appendage to said shaft so that said appendagerotates with said shaft but is pivotable about an axis perpendicular tothe longitudinal axis of said shaft, said connecting means beingnon-rotatably joined to said one end of said appendage and being tightlyfrictionally fit on said shaft so that rotation of either one of saidshaft and appendage relative to said body produces rotation of theother.

2. In a toy, the arrangement defined in claim 1, wherein said appendageis provided with an annular groove wider than the thickness of saidwall, the external diameter of said appendage in the region of saidgroove being smaller than the diameter of said opening but the diameterof said appendage on each side of the groove being larger than thediameter of said opening.

3. In a toy, the arrangement defined in claim 2 wherein said groove isrelatively narrow at two diametrically opposed points, the pivot axis ofsaid appendage extending through said points, the width of said grooveat said points being only slightly greater than the thickness of saidwall, and said groove expands to relatively wide open points betweensaid narrow points so that pivotal movement of said appendage ispermitted.

4. In a toy:

a hollow body provided with an opening, said body being defined by awall,

a shaft with said body terminating at one end near said opening,

means for mounting said shaft within said body, said shaft beingrotatable about its longitudinal axis with respect to said body,

an appendage, and

means securing said appendage to said body with one end thereof looselyaccommodated within said opene.

said appendage-securing means including means for connecting saidappendage to said Shaft so that said appendage rotates with said shaftbut is pivotable about an axis perpendicular to the longitudal axis ofsaid shaft, said connecting means including a sleeve non-rotatablyjoined to said one end of said appendage, said sleeve having a bore ofnon-circular cross-section accommodating said one end of said shaft, thesmallest cross-sectional dimension of said bore being no larger than across-sectional dimension of said shaft to produce a tight frictionalfit between said sleeve and shaft, so that rotation of either one ofsaid shaft and appendage relative to said body produces rotation of theother, and the largest crosssection dimension of said bore being largerthan said cross-sectional dimensions of said shaft to permit said sleeveto pivot with respect to said shaft about an axis perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis of said shaft.

5. In a toy, the arrangement defined in claim 4 wherein said shaft has asquare cross-sectional shape, and said bore has a rectangularcross-sectional shape.

6. In a toy, the arrangement defined in claim 4 wherein said bore has arelatively narrow neck between its ends, two opposed walls of said borediverge outwardly from said neck in opposite directions, and thecross-sectional size and contour of said neck corresponding to thecrosssectional size and contour of said shaft, whereby said neck servesto define the pivot axis of said sleeve with respect to said shaft.

7. In a toy, the arrangement defined in claim 4 Wherein said one end ofsaid appendage is hollow, said sleeve being located within said hollowend, and including at least one ridge fixed to said appendage andprojecting into the interior of said one end of said appendage, and acooperating slot in the exterior of said sleeve, the engagement betweensaid ridge and slot serving to prevent rotation between said appendageand sleeve.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,293,056 2/1919 Lany 46-4732,439,195 4/1948 Witmyer et al. 28788 2,637,936 5/1953 Dale et al.46-119 X 3,230,666 1/1966 Gardel et al. 46-119 F. BARRY SHAY, PrimaryExaminer US. Cl. X.R.

